Press Release
For Immediate Release
Date:October 27, 2006
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Cynthia Shipley
Supervisor,
Marketing & Public Relations
At (416) 392-5938 |
ZOO'S CONSERVATION EFFORTS WIN TOP NATIONAL AWARD!
October 27, 2006, Toronto, Ontario: The Toronto Zoo, as part of a team of Canadian wildlife and conservation institutions dedicated to saving the Vancouver Island marmot, a species balancing on the brink of extinction, has won the top conservation award of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) The honour, announced on October 21st, also goes to the Calgary Zoo, the Mountainview Conservation Society, and the Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Recovery Centre.
"A group of dedicated and caring people, working at four committed organizations, has saved a species from extinction - what a magnificent reward for such a tremendous effort," says Toronto Zoo CEO Calvin J. White.
Vancouver Island marmots, whose decline may be due to forestry, have chocolate brown fur with contrasting white patches. In conjunction with the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Team, the Toronto Zoo was the first zoo to establish a captive-breeding program for this species with the goal of releasing animals back into their wild habitat. Since marmots don't become sexually mature until the age of 4 years, and in the wild reproduce only every other year, marmot reproduction has been challenging. However, by conducting research and establishing husbandry and hibernation protocols, successful breeding has allowed animals to be released back to several different mountain sites on Vancouver Island over the years.
The Toronto Zoo began captive breeding the Vancouver Island marmot in 1997, working with a total of five animals. When the Marmot Recovery Foundation was established in 1998, there were only 80 marmots in the world. Breeding success has been so marked - in 2006 alone, 56 marmots were born in captivity and 14 pups were born in the wild - that larger than expected numbers of animals were able to be released back into the wild. "This is a major accomplishment in a species recovery effort," says the Toronto Zoo's Curator of Mammals, Maria Franke. Notes Andrew Bryant, Chief Scientist of the Marmot Recovery Foundation, "If it were not for captive breeding and the zoos involved in the recovery efforts, this species would be extinct in the wild." To date, the Toronto Zoo has produced 50 marmots, with the animals going both for wild release and to other facilities for continuation of breeding efforts.
The Toronto Zoo would like to extend congratulations to all the facilities and dedicated staff that have made the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Program so successful.
